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Westborough student selected for 2020 All-National Honor Ensembles

WESTBOROUGH -

Tyler Kinsky, a senior at Westborough High School (WHS), was recently selected to join the “best of the best” for the National Association for Music Education 2020 All-National Honor Ensembles (ANHE).

Held virtually for the first time ever on Jan. 7-9, the AllNational Honor Ensembles event included several rehearsals with the 2020 ANHE Conductors and workshops with renowned clinicians. Each ensemble will create a final, recorded performance that will be premiered online during the National Association for Music Education’s Music In Our Schools Month® in March 2021.

Kinsky was selected as one of only 18 students nationally to be part of the ANHE Jazz Ensemble, and is participating playing jazz trombone. After graduating from WHS, he plans to pursue a degree in Jazz Performance and Music Education.

The All-National Honor Ensembles performers represent collaboration and creativity in its highest musical form. The

WHS senior Tyler Kinsky All-National Honor Ensembles consist of a concert band, symphony orchestra, mixed choir, jazz ensemble, guitar ensemble, and modern band (now in its second year). Students were chosen through an audition process. The concert band and symphony orchestra each have 120 instrumentalists, the mixed choir contains 241 vocalists, the jazz ensemble has 18 instrumentalists, the guitar ensemble has 45 instrumentalists, and there are 13 performers in the modern band.

Names, schools, and states, as well as music directors, of the 552 2020 All-National Honor Ensemble students are available now at: nafme.org/ ANHE.

Northborough English Learner Education program accommodates 21 languages

By Liz Nolan Contributing Writer

NORTHBOROUGH- There are 21 different languages spoken by students in the Northborough Public K-8 schools. Director of English Learners and Equity Rhoda Webb presented on the English Learner Education program at the Jan. 6 Northborough School Committee meeting.

An English Learner (EL) is a student whose first language is not English and is not able to perform ordinary classroom work in English.

Currently, Northborough K-8 schools have 107 ELs, a steady incline from 32 students in 2004. Portuguese, Spanish and Arabic are the three most prevalent languages in the District for these students.

All families complete a home language survey. When another language other than English is the first language at home, the English Language Development teachers set up a family interview. This is the first step to building a relationship with the families.

“We truly get to know the uniqueness of every family,” said Webb. “This information is shared with the classroom teacher and all teachers working with that student. It’s important to get to know the students really well.”

A language proficiency screening is state mandated and helps to assess the level of language proficiency. A twocomponent program model is used for instruction.

The family and school partnership is strong

“We always want our families to deeply understand how their children are doing at school, and we also want to hear from our families how the children are doing at home,” said Webb.

Translation services are provided to assist families with communication. It’s also a growth area recommended for the Fiscal Year 2022 budget.

School Committee member Kelly Guenette commended the District for accommodating translations of electronic communications for the EL families so it’s not another obstacle for them.

“It shows the diversity of the District and where we have come in the past 15 years and where we are going,” she said.

School Committee Chair Keith Lebel was pleased to hear that the District has a good understanding of “the fine line of sorting out English language learning and the subset of children who also have other educational needs that go beyond just learning English as a second language.”

In a typical school year, an international night is held. Webb said it needs to be expanded because there are so many families.

“It is a wonderful opportunity to see… the whole family come together and just enjoy each other coming from such diverse backgrounds,” she said.

“We are all so grateful to have them enrich our lives as educators in our District,” said Webb.

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Assabet’s Health Tech program awarded MA Skills Capital Grant

By Cindy Zomar Contributing Writer

MARLBOROUGH - Assabet Valley Regional Technical High has been awarded a Massachusetts Skills Capital Grant for $358,741 to be used in the Health Technologies program. This was the third time the program had applied, and Kathy Regan, the lead instructor, gives the writing credit to Bryant Laflamme, the Director of Technical Programs.

“I just got to spend it,” she laughs.

Laflamme admits that it was a lot of time and effort to write the grant application again.

“It is a competitive process and a big, painful submission, but there was a need to replace aging equipment, so we tried again. We must be aligned with industry trends so our students are job-ready when they graduate. That’s our mission! We provided letters from our workforce partners, colleges, and Program Advisory Committee, extolling the eventual benefits to them. We shared a line-item budget of everything we thought we needed to have our kids ready for the real world,” he recalled.

Assabet instructor Kathy Regan demonstrates working with a mannequin in one of the new high-tech hospital units.

Learning model ready for anything

“We purchased all new modular desks and teacher carts and arranged our Student Learning Center so that we can space everyone six feet apart when they are physically here.

Shrewsbury schools to implement pool surveillance testing for COVID-19

By Melanie Petrucci Senior Community Reporter

SHREWSBURY – The Shrewsbury Public Schools will soon begin implementing COVID-19 pooled surveillance testing, according to Superintendent Dr. Joseph Sawyer.

Sawyer, along with Noelle Freeman, director of nursing, shared details about the testing process with the School Committee Jan. 20.

Pooling involves mixing several testing samples into one batch, then testing the entire batch with a diagnostic test. This approach increases the number of individuals that can be tested while minimizing the cost.

Freeman explained that if the sample is negative then it is safe to assume all involved in that pool are also negative. But if the sample comes back positive, those individuals would be separately screened to determine who was positive.

“Our plan at this point is to phase in testing,” she said. “Our hope is to begin by making testing available to all staff across the district beginning in early to mid-February and then to expand testing to students at the high school by mid to late February.”

The need for testing lower grades will be based on virus case counts.

Testing will consist of a self-administered shallow nasal swab. It will not be mandatory but will be highly encouraged.

According to Patrick Collins, assistant superintendent of operations and finance, the district is in the final phases of working out a contract with the vendor for a weekly pooled regimen. They plan to use stimulus and grant funding for this program. At the same time, we know that things can change on a dime to full remote learning, so we can move our laptops and screens to focus on a piece of equipment or hospital bed and everyone can watch the instructor from home,” explained Regan.

Upgrades in online learning systems

Students were already given Chromebooks to take home, but a set of 60 was purchased for the classroom as well. Fiveyear licenses were purchased for both the Applied Education System and Dean Vaughn Medical Terminology online curriculums, as well as on online electronic medical software called EHR Tutor.

$350K funds a lot of equipment

Ten new high-tech hospital units with beds, side tables and overbed tables and 10 mannequins give students hands-on learning experiences daily. There are also two ALEX Patient Communication Simulators with programmable “speaking” mannequins. WOW (Workplace on Wheels) mobile computerized carts for taking vital signs, new EKG machines and carts, stethoscopes with ADA approved high quality sound for hearing impaired students, Nasco blood pressure simulation arms, new skeletons, scales, automated mechanical lifts, and Accu-chek blood sugar monitors all reflect current industry standards. Staff used 60 cinch bags donated by Quinsigamond Community College to send home supplies for practicing some competencies, such as denture and nail care, a bed pan, and a gait belt for transfers. These can be cleaned and recycled for the next classes.

Timing was perfect

“We were very thankful to be able to get all this during a time when we had to adjust our teaching methods,” Regan admitted. “Luckily, we have four instructors who are not afraid of new technology and work great together.”

And I can’t say enough about our maintenance team who had to receive all these boxes and put everything together, or the Painting & Design graduates who painted our labs last summer. This grant allowed us to be creative in reaching our goal to have the kids safe and engaged in lessons, in person or remotely,” she added.

New equipment fills the labs at Assabet Valley Regional Technical High’s Health Technologies program courtesy of a $350K+ MA Skills Capital Grant.

Graduates ready for workforce

The health tech students are eligible to take the Certified Nursing Assistant exam. They also earn their CPR/First Aid, Paid Feeder, Electrocardiogram Tech, Medical Administrative Assistant, Home Health Aide and Alzheimer’s-Dementia caretaker certifications.

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